I spoke with Monocle 24's Midori House last night about the sudden meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The immediate topic --- whether the US and Russia were pushed to confer because of Syria's chemical weapons --- was soon accompanied by other considerations, such as the possibility of a de facto "protected zone" for insurgent-held territory and Moscow's stepping away from the Assad regime.

The discussion, which starts with comments by Geoff Dyer of the Financial Times, begins at the 5:49 mark. My contribution starts at 10:13.